The Girl Who Cried Defeat
by Celtica Noir
Summary: In a Battle Royale which decides the fate of the world, Hungary finds herself choosing to either save the people she hates-or kill the ones she loves. Dark!Hetalia fic, BR style.
1. Prussia

**Disclaimer:** Nothing in this story (except maybe the plot, and that only halfway) belongs to me; Hetalia and its characters belong to Hidekaz Himaruya. Also, no offense intended to any country; this is Hetalia, after all. ;)

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**Chapter 01: ****~Preußen~**

If you asked Hungary last week what her plans for the evening were, she wouldn't have said it was killing Austria. In fact, it wasn't her plan for this evening, either; but as it was, she was going to have to if she found him. A bead of perspiration slipped down to her cheek, and her tongue darted out to wet her lips as she looked around, her broom clutched firmly in both of her hands. With any luck, the world's leaders would realize what a stupid game they were playing here and call it off, but she wasn't too hopeful.

Surely Austria wouldn't be that much of an idiot to play right into their hands, correct?

It had all started when that idiot America decided to play hero in one of the meetings; again. It wasn't as though it was him she could only blame; France had decided in his speech that the world needed to focus more on building museums all over the place instead of focusing on gas emissions from cars; after all, if you dressed up the world better, you would not see the pollution, no?

"France, you half-witted git-"

England started, glaring, but before he could go on any further, America stood up suddenly, spilling hamburgers all over the place. (The dolt had them on his lap, of all places.) He slurped his drink noisily before clearing his throat and pointing his finger at France. "You can't say that in front of the world's hero! The world is crying out for help, and I, the hero, will save it!"

"Oh dear Lord, here we go again..."

"Hero this, hero that, do you not understand the importance of beauty, or has being raised by England made you even that dull?" France retorted, surprisingly; Hungary looked from him to America, who just started laughing 'ho ho ho'. The entire hall was silent as everyone waited for something else to happen.

England stood up, whipping out a handkerchief and dabbing his cheek with it. "This is ridiculous. I don't know why we even bother coming to this sham." He stopped and tucked the handkerchief away in one of his pockets and fixed his stare on France before letting his green eyes sweep along the rest of the countries seated in the room; for one moment, he even looked at Austria and Hungary. "Let's admit it, the people of the world can make their own decisions. They don't need _us _to make their lives worse, at any rate." He turned to the side, not bothering to look at anyone anymore. "Sorry, but I'm leaving."

"Oy oy, England!" America called to his retreating back, but only got a dismissive wave in response. The door whined as it swung shut behind him; America looked around as people started shuffling and getting up. He rubbed the top of his head, clearly embarrassed. "Oh, come on guys, England was just being himself. You're not all thinking about doing the same, are you?"

France stepped down from the podium, running a careless hand through his blonde locks. "Meh, I do not like to agree with England, as that is in bad taste, however..." he paused, as if for effect; Hungary wouldn't have been surprised if that _was_the case. "He is right, unfortunately. We now have our leaders make these decisions for us. Coming to these meetings is really quite honestly, nothing but a 'sham'."

Hungary didn't stay to hear the rest; she found herself being pulled up by the arm by Austria and out of the room, but she didn't resist. She had no desire to see a fight or an argument break out. Later on, as she stood in his drawing room and heard him play Mozart, she couldn't help recalling what had happened. The music flowed between them like a wall of sound; Austria was always like that towards her. Distant. "Austria-san?"

"Hm? What is it, Hungary?"

"Do you think we'll be alright?"

Austria was never one for blatant answers, so he simply changed to Chopin and let the piece speak for itself, hanging between them. He always did like to express himself through music, did Austria. The problem, however, was precisely that he was only capable of expressing himself through music. He wasn't a soldier, or someone with a lot of power; he stuck to his hobbies and tended to let her do all the fighting for him; or at least, he used to. Now he simply clung onto Germany and let his brother handle all the rest; Hungary sometimes felt that even if she stopped paying attention to him, he wouldn't care too much.

Her eyes flickered towards the curtains as they lifted, resisting against the winds but failing. A storm. She'd need to go around and close the windows soon. She let herself glance back at Austria; he had stopped playing now, and it was silent for a moment, before she cleared her throat and smiled falteringly at him. "You know...I care about you a lot, you know that?"

"Thank you, Hungary." Acknowledgement, nothing more; come to think of it, when was the last time he said he cared about her? She could barely remember, now. Since when had she been in love with him? Why had she fallen for him? These questions ran around and around in her head as she stepped out of the room, her head bowed; and Prussia was standing there, right in front of the room.

He didn't look even mildly surprised at being caught out. "'ello Hungary!" he said in his usual over-excited manner, like that of a child's, and clapped a hand on her shoulder. "Wanna go out hunting today? The weather's really great out there, and I know we'll catch a lot of stuff! Come on, you can't refuse my awesomeness today!"

She shrugged off the hand as properly as a girl was supposed to do and turned to the side, fiddling with her apron strings. "Sorry, I can't. I've got work to do today." She smiled at him condescendingly, but he didn't seem perturbed in the least; in fact, it only made him more insistent. He followed her all around the house, and when she closed up the last window, she turned to him and glared at him, daring him to go away. He was still grinning. "How do you get in here anyway?"

"Awesomeness is a talent, you know! It can find its way into whatever it wants!" Hungary rolled her eyes at him, but he went on. "That aside, I _still _dont get why you stay in here all day long! I mean. You're Hungary, you know! It's not fair that Austria gets you all to himself!" He suddenly grabbed her arm and started pulling her towards the door. "C'mon, you can't refuse me forever!"

"What's going on here?" Austria appeared, looking more than a little annoyed. Hungary half-wondered what it looked like, Prussia tugging violently at her arm and her resisting against being dragged away. "Prussia, what are you doing in my house _again_, for Franz's sake?" In his right hand was a music score; he'd probably been composing. "Get out!"

"You can't talk that way to me-" Prussia started, but when he saw the look on Austria's face, he let go of Hungary and stepped back, shrugging. "Fine, be that way." He sniffled to himself. "See if I come here again! I won't even if you _beg _me to!" He started whistling to himself as he walked off, albeit off-tune. That idiot never did have a good musical sense, Hungary thought as she rubbed the spot where he had been holding her. He did have a painful grip, though.

"Good riddance," Austria muttered to himself when Prussia had left; not that Hungary could blame him. Prussia did break in far too often and often stole things from the refrigerator when no one was looking. All the same, he was the only other company they had; even if he was a freeloader, he wasn't really the bad sort. "Hungary, are you alright?"

"O-of course..." Austria smiled at her. There were moments like this, when she could think that he would miss her if she left. That he still did care about her, a lot. Sometimes he sent her Valentines, sometimes chocolate, sometimes they'd walk together through the street holding hands. Except he always did his best to slip away before things got too serious like they did before; like he was doing now. He inclined his head towards her before he turned away and walked off, leaving Hungary staring at his back as he disappeared upstairs; leaving her standing all alone in the room.

The piano started up again.

"HUNGARY! COME FISHING WITH ME!"

The next morning was...wet. The ground was wet, at any rate, and the air felt heavy from last night's storm. But even so, Hungary wouldn't have complained-she was used to dealing with little things like this-if it hadn't been for a certain red-eyed German chasing her all the way to the market. Apparently, just because he said he'd never go into Austria's house again didn't mean he'd stop bugging her. In fact. it only got...worse.

"C'MON!" he yelled at her back. "Let's go hunting some deer or something!"

"There's no deer in these parts, idiot! And stop chasing me before I clobber you over the head with my broom!"

"NEVER!" He smirked, looking happy; in fact, Hungary had never seen him as happy as this for a long time. Prussia was slowly dying, she knew this and everyone else knew this. Even though he was still obnoxious, pushy and lazy, the fight had gone out of him since a long while back. She supposed arguing with her made him feel more alive. "C'mon, the market's completely boring! Shopping is dull!"

"Not to a girl it isn't!" She stuck her tongue out at him, to egg him on even further. But he stopped, looking at something; and she blinked, turning around to face whatever it was. Not what; who. Germany was standing there, looking up at both of them somberly. No, it was worse; she got the sort of feeling where you knew you were going to get bad news before you got it. "Germany-san?"

"Where's Austria?" He glanced from her to Prussia and back towards her; an almost inquisitive look. "I need to talk to him-the two of you as well."

The news wasn't good. Because of Prussia's immature insistence that he wasn't going to ever put even one foot in Austria's house again, she had to call Austria out, and they wasted three minutes glaring at each other before Germany barked the rivalry out of them. "That's enough! If neither of you are capable of acting like adults I'll send you to the-"

"West!" It was Prussia's turn to glare. "In front of _her_? Really?" Hungary looked around at the three of them, taking stock of their expressions; from Germany's twitching eyebrow to Prussia's red face and Austria's calm glare. Germany sent a sidelong glance towards Hungary before clearing his throat and looking solemnly at the three of them.

"Alright. Stand still so I can get this across through your heads." Prussia, who was about to object, found himself fixed in place by a rather stiff glare. "It's really bad news, but...our leaders have all decided to make us participate in a Battle Royale."

From the confused looks on the faces of the older brothers, Hungary could see she wasn't the only one puzzled by the strange term. "Battle Royale?" she said, staring at Germany. He looked at her, and she suddenly realized the expression in his eyes wasn't merely that of someone delivering bad news; it was of someone extremely disturbed.

"Well...to put it simply...instead of a war, they decided to make us all fight to the death. All of us...are going to have to kill each other."

Prussia was the first to break the bewildered silence that followed. "West...stop joking. That has to be a lie, right?" he guffawed. "I mean, we don't even have reasons to be fighting right now...we don't even need a war."

"We don't...but they do," Germany spoke with awful finality. "It's because we left the decisions up to them. We don't have a choice anymore."

"But...why?" Hungary hadn't realized those frail words had tumbled out of her own mouth; she was in too much disbelief. Yes, they'd fought each other before; they'd hurt each other, even often made sure to break each others' bones. But they'd never really intended to kill each other. Countries weren't made to be killed, were they? "This...doesn't make any sense."

"It's the usual thing, isn't it?" Austria's voice was soft, unshaken as usual. "They all want to rule the world."

_They all want to rule the world. _Hungary thought, as she stood in this forest of tall trees. Somewhere an owl hooted; and she fancied she could see the sky getting just a little darker. She sat down on the ground and started striking rocks together in an effort to get a campfire running; and it took a few minutes before she could see a small flickering flame, trying to stand against the chill of the wind. She covered it with her hand and slowly fanned it into a bigger fire; it wasn't long before the clearing was bathed in light. She couldn't find it in herself to curl up and go to sleep, though.

How many countries had already died today?

The owl hooted again, and Hungary wondered if it was as lonely as she was right now. Maybe it was calling out for its nestmates; maybe it was calling out for its parents. What did she know? She sighed, drawing her knees up to her chest. At any rate, she'd have to go looking for Austria tomorrow, again. It had already been two days since the whole thing had started, and still she hadn't run into anyone she knew. With any luck she'd at least run into one of the Three Big Idiots-as she'd taken to calling America, France and England-and give them what-for.

Just as she was about to drowse off, sitting in front of the campfire, a twig snapped behind her. Before she even knew it, her old reflexes kicked in; she'd picked up the broom and stood up to face the intruder without even thinking. "Who's there?"

"Oh...Hungary...it's...you...?"

It was a distressingly familiar voice; familiar because it had been nagging at her only a few days back and distressing because it was cracking and fading away, as if it didn't have the strength to go on. The person appeared from behind a tree, panting. The voice was the first hint; his expression the second; and the large stain on his uniform the third. Hungary looked at him in horror as he stumbled into the clearing. "Prussia!"

He would have collapsed to his knees there and then if she hadn't rushed forwards to catch him. She placed him as close as she could to the fire-he was shivering-and tried to topple some water into his mouth. He only managed a gulp; the rest of it spilled onto the ground and he coughed violently, his shivering increasing. Hungary opened up his uniform; but if she'd thought of ripping up her own dress to bind up his wound, she was mistaken. The gash was too large and the blood was still pouring out; even as she pressed her own hand to the wound to stop the flow, he grabbed her arm.

"No...stop. It's...too...late."

"Prussia, you idiot!" She ripped up parts of her own skirt anyway and pressed it to the wound. A drop of water fell onto her hand; rain? He smiled up at her; it was frustrating, provoking. How could he smile like that? "You...you idiot...I hate you so much..." More drops fell; and she realized they were her own tears.

"I...know. I...hate...you...too." He grinned even more broadly, if that was possible. "Don't worry...I'll be...alright. It's me...after all..." He coughed up blood and twitched in pain. She glared at him, terrified and furious at the same time.

"Shut up! And who'd...worry...about someone like you? Huh?" she yelled, her voice breaking up. The tears were running off her cheeks now; there were too many. "You idiot...you can't die...not like this..." Why him? She thought numbly as she tried to stop the blood from all spilling out. If it was someone like France or Switzerland it wouldn't have hit so hard to home.

But Prussia was...even though she didn't want to admit it, she cared for him. It wasn't supposed to happen this quickly, dammit; she should've had at least another decade before she had to mourn him. _Mourn him._Why did she feel so empty, looking at all that blood spilling out? Why wouldn't the tears stop? Why wouldn't they stop, dammit? "You're not going to really die, right?" she whispered. "Please tell me this is just one big joke..."

"Austria...he...did..." The German coughed up even more blood, and stopped speaking, but Hungary understood. She understood too well; that Austria had fallen to all the talk about glory. Her own boss had done the same; tried to sway her. _Why, Austria-san? Why?_

After a while, the blood seemed to start slowing down; she immediately tore up a big part of her skirts and wrapped his chest up in the fabric, binding the wound up tightly, and propped him up against a tree. As she rose to get more water, he grabbed her arm. "Don't...go...please..." He smiled again; that inexplicable smile, that told her he wasn't scared at all. "We...haven't...really spent a lot...of time together, have we?"

"We can't talk about that now!" She stood up, dusting off what remained of her skirts. "I'll get you some water and then we can-"

"No...really." He wasn't grinning anymore. "Please."

She stopped and knelt down. "Prussia?"

He pushed himself up against the tree, not asking her to do it. _Trying to salvage his pride? _"I...Hungary...could you..?" He looked up at her, for a moment; and Hungary understood. She wrapped her arms around his chest and hugged him tightly; there was a brief pause, and he shuddered.

Then he was no more.

It was ironic to think that he'd died in her arms-a girl's arms. Prussia, so proud of never having married-so proud, in fact, that the boast itself brought tears to his eyes, or so he said. The first person that let her know that she was, in fact, a girl and not a boy. He'd never been around girls; for all the times he said he was 'awesome', she knew that he was really just a typical religious nuthead. And now he was dead in her arms; his eye closed and his platinum-blonde hair matted with red. She began singing in Hungarian, not knowing any German songs to sing.

_"Szerte a világon_  
_Szerte a világon_  
_Szerte a világon megyünk_  
_Mit hoz a holnap_  
_Senki sem tudja_  
_Amit tegnap hozta_  
_Jobb, ha nem kell aggódnia_  
_Menjünk körül_  
_Szerte a világon_  
_Világszerte megyünk,_  
_És lássuk egymás kezét_  
_Ezért közösen tudjuk építeni_  
_Egy jobb jövőben."_

It was a silly little ditty she often sang to herself; compared to Austria-san's soaring orchestrations, it was nothing. But Prussia often stood and listened to her, even only if to bug her later on about his own terrible singing. Singing she would never hear again. Singing she would miss, no matter how many times she nearly throttled him to death for offending her ears.

Did countries have graves?

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**And there you go! ;D In my opinion, that death scene wasn't really all that good, but oh well. Next chapter will probably come up sometime this week, if I can help it; meanwhile, constructive criticism is always appreciated. :3 Also, about the Hungarian song; it's pretty much a silly ditty I made up on the spot and then used Google Translate to turn it Hungarian, so if my Hungarian grammar's atrocious, help would be appreciated. :P ****Also, before I post the next chapter, I want to hear your thoughts on who the other main character is. :P I know it's not obvious, but I'd like to hear all the same. :D**

**(Prussia: Not even a single word for me? I officially hate you.**

**Me: Sorry...)**


	2. Austria

**Disclaimer: **Hetalia and all its characters does not belong to me; they belong to Hidekaz Himaruya. No offense intended to any real countries, because as I said before, this is Hetalia. ;)

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**Chapter Two - ~****Österreich~**

**She dug a hole in the ground with her hands. Well, basically, she was simply clawing at the dirt with her long fingernails that were usually dirty with dust from housework and now from other things, such as blood and soil. Her thoughts sickened her, after a while. They were matter-of-fact, and she wasn't trying to think about the body at all anymore. In fact, she was doing her damnedest to avoid the fact that someone she knew was already dead. But she was still digging his grave with her hands.**

It sounded rather macabre when she said it like that. "Damned German, dying where I can't...can't bury...bury him...these Germans are all like that..." she murmured, pausing. "They always make more trouble and I always have to clean up after them..." Hungary laughed to herself, humorlessly. She knew something was off about her own reactions, but she couldn't bear to actually let it all out. That would be defeat; and she still had her pride as a nation.

"I hate them...all of them..." She swiped at her eyes as a tear formed in one of her eyes and continued plumbing into the dirt. Her fingernails burned; her hands felt as though they would fall off at any given moment. But she couldn't leave his body like that...neglected...as if no one had seen what had happened to him. She just couldn't. So she kept digging, well into the night, and at some point she fell asleep and woke up in the morning. So much sunlight; she thought she was going to be blinded by it. Why, Austria-san? It doesn't make any sense. Was he lying?

She stared at Prussia's body, lying against the tree. For all the world he looked as though he was sleeping; she'd covered what of him she could with his uniform, but it didn't cover enough. She wished she could pretend he had never happened. She wished that this was all just a big nightmare, and that she was going to wake up to find herself back in Austria-san's house. She wished and wished; but no matter how much she wished, nothing happened. I hate this. I hate Prussia, I hate this damn game, I hate...all of this. I hate this.

She gave up on digging after a while and stood up, dusting off soil and dirt of what remained of her dress. This wasn't going to work. If she knew she was going to have to dig graves for other countries, she would've asked her boss for a shovel. But things were tight back at home; what she was given had been given reluctantly, and only after a lot of begging. "Ugh, why does this always...why does this always happen to me?"

"Hungary?"

She turned around, surprised. Two intruders in the space of twelve hours? I'm getting popular. Hungary thought wryly to herself, before her eyes strayed towards where Prussia lay, and immediately sobered up at the thought of what had happened last time. She picked up her broom, not exactly sure who the figure in the trees was; but she had a good idea as he stepped closer to the edge of the clearing. "Austria-san?" she hazarded, stepping towards him but making sure they were still far apart. "Is that you?"

"Hungary!" He stumbled into the clearing; and unlike Prussia, he didn't have any blood staining his robes. He adjusted his glasses as he stopped himself from falling over and glanced over to where Prussia lay, before looking back at her, a grim look on his face. "Are you alright? Did he do anything to you?"

Hungary stiffened; the sound of caring in his voice was one she hadn't heard for a long time. She pulled the broom across her chest in a defensive stance; what was going on? She had no idea. "I...I don't know." She hesitated, not sure what to think. She didn't budge as he walked towards her, simply holding up her broom in some sort of self-defense. What was she to do?

He sighed and shook his head to himself, putting his hands on his hips; a typical Austria expression. "Really, Hungary. What is that all about?" He looked up, and to her surprise, started chuckling. "Honestly, though. Either he harmed you or he didn't. Which one is it?"

Hungary stared at him hollowly. Why was he laughing? Couldn't he see Prussia? Couldn't he see that he was dead? Then Prussia hadn't lied. Even though she couldn't fathom the reason why Austria-san would do such a thing...Prussia wouldn't lie. Neither would Germany, or even the country standing in front of her. Austria-san. Why did he feel so foreign to her now? "You're laughing," she whispered. "Austria-san...you look...happy."

"Hungary?" He stared at her, as if not sure what to make of her. She stared back as well, realizing something needed to be said. Something that would confirm her fears, at the very least. After all, Austria-san wouldn't lie. She straightened up to look him in the eye, and read the uncertainty in his expression.

"...you...you killed Prussia, didn't you?" There. She let it spill out between them, between herself, the broom and him. He had raised his hand towards her, as if to touch her shoulder, but dropped it quickly when he heard the question. A cold look appeared as he pushed his spectacles up the bridge of his nose, and she could see his eyes narrowed at her. She stood her ground, glaring back at him, waiting for him to make his next move. "Austria."

He glanced away, not meeting her eyes. "Why do you want to know, Hungary? Did you really care for him?" He looked back at her, his glare biting into her own. "Perhaps you cared for him more than you did for me."

Hungary bit her lip. Was that really what he believed? But no, she couldn't extend her sympathy to him right now. I love him. This she knew, plainly. But Hungary never was a girl to let her own feelings cloud her judgement. I can't forgive him. She couldn't forgive Prussia's death so easily. For all that he was; obnoxious, pushy, sometimes downright stupid-she had to admit that she never wanted to see him dead. She couldn't give in now; and as she stood there, contemplating the silence that stretched out between them like a soundless wall, he bowed his head, and sighed.  
"I guess I have no choice after all. On your guard, Elizaveta!"

He had said on her guard; but the name-dropping was too sudden, too casual for her to not notice it and be disarmed by surprise. This was the opening he had looked for; he suddenly slipped out a dagger and flicked it her way. Assassination techniques? Her mind screamed, but her body, still remembering all her old drills, quickly danced away; in her right hand flipped the only other thing she had in her arsenal-her trusty old frying pan.

"Austria!" But she was too slow for the next dagger. It slipped through her already torn-up dress and into her side; her frying pan batted the next one away, aimed directly for her chest. Too many openings; it's been too long. Her mind whispered to her as her knees collapsed; for some reason she felt drowsy; very much so.

"Aus...tria...you...poi...son?"

"I'm afraid so, Hungary," he whispered, standing over her; soon enough, her strength gave away and she found herself lying on the grass. He knelt over her prone form, smiling bitterly. "It's been too long since our last battle, hasn't it, darling?"

Her mouth worked furiously as she tried to get the next question out properly. Her throat refused to work; it burned. Every single part of her body burned from within, but she could only feel the burn, not the pain. She was quickly going numb; her sight was slipping away from her. "Aus...tria...why?"

He closed his eyes for a moment before opening them, and meeting her own frankly; grief, disgrace, and something else. "You wouldn't really understand," he whispered, running a hand over her hair. "You don't know what it's like; to hold an empire in your hands and then watch as it all collapses around you. You simply don't." He looked away, dropping her hand, and stood up. "Goodbye, Elizaveta." Her human name, again; something caught in her throat as she reached up to grab the hand that had left her own, but he had already turned away from her, and was walking away-

-and she couldn't feel anything anymore for a while, her body had gone completely numb before her mind gave away, and everything became blank for a long stretch, where she could hear herself saying whyover and over again, uncomprehending, unable to understand, deserted, trapped in a whirl of her own thoughts, even though he had told her-

-he was right. She couldn't understand what it was like to hold a crumbling empire in her hands. A lot of the other countries did; England for one, or Turkey, who she hated. She hated Mongolia, too. Bullies and idiots, all the lot of them. Austria, she had known before the Holy Roman Empire had ever existed. She had known the other side of him; the constantly irritated boy she would often fight with, other than Prussia. Both of them had been her enemies-

-but those days had long disappeared into history. Where was her pride gone?-

-She hated empires, with a passion.

It was a long while before she was aware of what was going around her. The first hint of her not being dead was some sort of awful concoction passing through her lips; it burned her throat, and she coughed reflexively. Whoever made it must be an awful cook, she feebly thought, before slipping back into unconsciousness. It was a long while after that she felt the moist cloth on her forehead coaxing her back from her stupor. "Uh..."

"Hungary?" The voice sounded familiar; not too familiar, but she'd heard it somewhere at least a few times. She couldn't place who it was. "Eh, you're alive after all. Can you sit up?"

"Uhhh..."

She opened her eyes blearily for a moment, and was immediately assaulted with the cup to her mouth, again. the voice said, hovering anxiously over her face. She was seeing the voice for some reason; and then she saw red when the strange brew passed into her throat again. I'm going to kill you, whoever you are, when I wake up. She thought feebly, feeling murder froth in the back of her throat. Maybe Austria's right after all...

No, that's a stupid thought.

"Hungary," the voice called out after what seemed like hundreds of years later. "Are you awake? Wait-actually, why am I even doing this?" He sighed to himself. "But I can't leave her alone either...what am I supposed to do?" Suddenly, it hit her like a pile of rocks directly on her head. Him. She suddenly sat up, her senses not quite functioning properly, and her hands reached for his collar. "What the-" He was cut off, as her fingers wrapped themselves around his throat.

"Gah!"

"You. Die. This instant. I'm going to kill you," she stated plainly, squashing the air out of his throat. "It's because of you we're playing this game!"

"OY!" He managed to tear himself away from her clawing hands and gasped for air, clearly shaken by her almost zombie-like movement to choke the life out of him. He didn't have time to regain his normal breathing, though; Hungary stood up, still enraged, and stomped towards him angrily. He scooted away rapidly and backed up into a tree. "H-hey! Listen to me!"

"You deserved that, and worse!" She glared down at him, cracking her knuckles. She fully intended to choke the life out of him, and enjoy doing it, since he was responsible for all this mess. That, and he reminded her too much of Austria. They even had the same air, for Magyar's sake! Then she looked down, realizing she was missing something. "My pan..." She slithered closer to him, looking more and more like a zombie. "What have you done with my pan?"

"Now, now..." He held out his hands in front of him in a pacifying gesture, now looking somewhat less scared but still defensive. "C-calm down. You'll make your health worse if you do that." He pushed himself slowly up the tree as he talked, finally standing instead of being hovered over. "You don't want to get worse, do you?"

"My...health." She paused, remembering not what had happened before she had fallen sick, but rather what had happened during it. She immediately bristled. "You're the one that gave me that thing to drink?" He nodded, looking wary. Immediately her arms shot up, her hands reaching again for his neck. "Then you deserve WORSE!"

Then, they dropped. The other country gulped audibly as he sidled away from the tree and put a decent distance between himself and her, and watched her, unsure of what she would do next. This was a new thing. He was usually so certain of himself that his fear seemed out of place. What had happened to him? She glanced towards him, gauging his expression. Yes, it was definitely out of place, that fear; and could she sense guilt? "I was poisoned...did you save me?"

He glanced away, almost in the sense of 'not wanting to be acknowledged'. "Ye...yes, I did, actually..." He looked back at her, looking even more unsure of what she would do next. "It wasn't anything big, just so you know." When there wasn't any answer from her, he straightened up and brought out a handkerchief from one of his pockets, dabbing at his cheek slightly at it. A few more moments passed, before, he dropped the act and glared at her. "Oy, are you going to stand all day there or what?"

"I'm a sick person, I think I'm allowed to do whatever I want!" she shot back, and looked away guiltily. It wasn't really him that she was irritated with anymore; after all, he hadsaved her. But it felt uncalled-for, random. Why her? She glanced back at him; he was sitting on one of the boulders now. "Sorry. I just don't know what to make of this."

He made an irritated noise, looking towards the tents; tents? Hungary felt a little jealous, suddenly. How come he had tents and she didn't? "You're not the only one who didn't see this coming." He shrugged, looking defeated. Why did he look so small, even though he was taller than her? That was one thing Hungary never quite understood. "I didn't think this would happen."

"Well, obviously you weren't thinking!" She sighed, making her seat on the ground. "But then again, neither was anyone else." She glanced around again; suddenly, an alarm clock started ringing. His head shot up at the sound, while her eyebrows twitched. An alarm clock? "That's ridiculous!" She finally exploded. "How can you have so many of these useless things when I'm not even allowed to bring a weapon?"

"Eh, well, that's-"

"Never mind!" She sighed. She was getting angry too easily, too quickly. Even if he was an idiot, he probably deserved better since he saved her life. She covered her face in her hands for a moment, not sure exactly what on Earth was going on. After a while she heard the sound of pages turning.

The dolt had sneaked in a fantasy novel, too.

She watched him, curiously. England, or as he often liked to call himself during official events, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, wasn't very well known to her. The last time they had been close enough to speak face to face was during the War of Austrian Succession; and even there he hadn't exactly made a good reputation for himself. "See, I did this and that and I almost drowned France, that bastard-"

Then when the actual fighting had appeared, he'd signed out ever so smoothly, leaving Austria to deal with Prussia until she came to save his behind. Just the thought of it made her eyebrow twitch, just a little; and it wasn't only England evoking the reaction, although he was certainly part of it. "What else did you bring over?" she finally asked, after a few moments, not wanting to think about the past anymore. "I hope you brought food over?"

"But of course!" he protested. "What do you think I am, an idiot?"

No, but you certainly are a spoiled country.

"I'm going to cook these, and don't you dare object." Hungary grabbed the food from him and began chopping everything up before he could even protest. It wasn't half an hour before England hovered at her side, peering into the pot she was cooking in. (Also lent by him.) "What's that you're making?"

"You'll find out soon." She almost couldn't believe they were actually getting along together, but they were. Still, one question kept nagging at the back of her head. England was like Austria; they had both had empires at one point in history, and the times she'd heard England whining to America about having separated from him sounded as though he really wanted his empire back. So why'd he save her? "Say."

Another page turn; he was back on his seat again. "What? I'm busy. Make it quick."

Yes, you're busy reading a novel and I'm busy cooking both our suppers. She suspiciously picked up one of the seasonings and sniffed at it gingerly. Not a bad smell, but not exactly what she was looking for. Oh well, she'd have to make do. "How'd you get the poison out?" She decided that would be a safer question to ask, rather than going right into the reasons. Besides, she was curious about this, too. "Austria doesn't like doing things halfway. The poison should've killed me."

"Oh, that!" He grinned menacingly; for a moment there, Hungary winced in alarm when she noticed the evil glint in his eyes. "I'm very well-known in the magic community, you know!" He nodded to himself, wearing a wise-looking expression. It didn't really suit him, Hungary thought. "I used magic to flush the poison out. Smart, huh?"

Hungary stared at him in disbelief. Magic? Really? What nut had she fallen in with? No, more specifically-how come this dolt actually had an empire at one point? Only children believed in magic. "Hey...England, right?" When he nodded at her, she went on. "You need to see a doctor." Wrong thing to say, apparently; a curtain of silent gloom stretched out between them, with England shaking like a leaf every few moments; not out of fear, but pure irritation this time.

"What happened to Prussia?" she asked after a while; the silence was unbearable, and she had remembered the other's body lying against a tree. Sleeping, not dead; or so he looked. "He was there with me, in the clearing. Did you see-"

The effect had been immediate; from sheer irritation, he subsided into a solemn gloom. "I left him there," he murmured. "Nations have no graves."

She stared at him for a moment before going back to her pot. What he said made sense; but was it really right to leave Prussia like that? She couldn't help thinking about it. "I suppose that's true, but...it just doesn't seem right."

"A lot of things aren't right for us," he mumbled again, "and sometimes it's just best to leave things as they are." She closed her eyes, feeling a slight emptiness in her chest. She supposed she'd have to deal with it; or at least learn. Why though, she wondered, did England seem to know so much about this?

Before she could-or either of them-could say anything more, however, a sudden flash boomed in the distant darkness, and England looked at her standing up, taking the novel with him. "What in bloody hell was that?"

"It sounded like a bomb going off," she guessed, frowning. "If you're going, I'm coming along too. There's no way you're leaving me alone here."

He looked surprised at first before looking away from her. "W-well, really...do as you like," he mumbled, half to himself and half to her, before starting to walk off towards the flash. Hungary pulled the pot off the fire and stomped the flames out before following, borrowed frying pan in hand. She seriously needed to get something new for herself.

* * *

There we go, with Chapter Two~ And yes, England's our other main character. ;D To anyone who might have noticed, the chapters are all named after the countries that feature prominently in them; originally, this chapter was supposed to be named England, but I decided to go with Austria's title instead. England has yet a while to go before he gets his own chapter—and so does Hungary! xD

So poor Hungary's using England's stuff to get around right now, and she still doesn't know why he saved her. Maybe he was just being obtuse? Who knows? At any rate, this chapter and the last are pretty much first drafts; and so will all the others that follow. And the novel will feature prominently in the next few chapters~ At least, I hope, unless something else happens. So far I've stuck pretty much to the 'countries stranded in the middle of the forest and stuff happens' format, but I think that will change next chapter. And so on and so on.

Reviews will be appreciated and nommed with much milk. Constructive criticism, on the other hand, shall be served up in a French salad; and flames shall be roasted to death with Iggy's terrible scones. (I love him, but I don't love his cooking. Sorry Iggy.)

**11/05/2012: **Okay, I admit it. I took down this fic for a while because I thought it wasn't good enough, but I decided to give it another shot. So...yeah.


	3. Germany

**Disclaimer: **Hetalia does not belong to me in any way, shape or form, only the story does, and that only half-way. It belongs to Hidekaz Himaruya, so if there's someone you want to bother about owning copyright, bother him~

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**Chapter Three: ~Deutschland~**

**The pillow under her head felt infinitely more comfortable than having Austria's arms wrapped around her. **She turned around in her sleeping bag and mumbled childishly to herself as her left cheek disappeared into the soft pillow. "Ita-chan...cute...mnnngh...Roma-chan don't do that..." Outside her tent a tall figure pried open the flaps and glanced in, still perplexed by the sudden turn of events that had happened this morning. Lost in thought he stepped back and rubbed the back of his neck.

Behind him a bound-up Italy chanted long _veeeehs _as a tipsy England told him questionable stories about-Germany paused to clear his head. Between Italy's drawn-out sighs and England's low murmurs about curses pulled on various other countries in the last few weeks, he felt like he had intruded in on something he wasn't supposed to hear in the first place. He glanced over at them.

England's cheeks were tinged with a vividly bright red, which reminded him terribly of the strange red flowers he had seen earlier; the ones that floated in the sky and glowed as they showered down scarlet dust onto the dull brown earth below. Just the thought of it sent shivers up his spine. He had run away of course-no intelligent German would be caught with strange dust on his face. What if it was radioactive?

He should've been surprised at how colourless the island itself was but for some reason it hadn't alarmed him at all; as if he had already known what to expect the moment he stepped foot on the island. Even the method of transportation hadn't bothered him, not in the least; even though it involved being drugged and then waking up to find himself all alone on a strange island.

"_Flare up and burn intensely,_

_And turn it into crisp from corner to corner~"_

"That's more than enough!" Germany yelped, scared of England's shenanigans. The other did deserve his fair share of beer and definitely could whine away to Italy as long as he liked (it was doing the brunette some good; Italy was definitely more wary than he was before) but he wouldn't put up with ghosts and summoning chants in his camp. "England, just...go to sleep."

To be honest he probably wouldn't have worried about England in the first place if it hadn't been because of those blasted traps. He remembered how it started-how he decided to set up traps around the camp's perimeter so no one would attempt to kill him. But then he woke up this morning and imagine his surprise when he bowed out of the tent and almost stepped on Italy's sleeping form. He didn't have the heart to kill the poor thing without fair warning so he knelt down and prodded the other country with a branch. "Oy, Italia."

"Vehvehvehvehvehveh~"

He shook the brunette vigorously. "Italia. Wake up this instant."

"Vehvehvehvehveh~" Italy snored even more loudly if that was possible. It was enough of a trigger to make Germany do what he did next. An irritable vein danced along the lines of his forehead as he towered over the curled up Italy; like a giraffe over a mouse. "Well, if that doesn't work..." His boot shot out and connected with the other country's side, which was immediately followed by a healthy load of scared screams.

Germany wasn't exactly sure what happened _after _that. He did however remember Italy scrape, beg, wave white flags and pray in rapid-fire Latin before before Germany finally decided to take pity and tied him to a tree. It kept both of them safe and he didn't have to kill Italy. Who could with that look trained on them? He swore that if Italy had nothing else to claim as a weapon, he definitely had the puppy-dog look down pat.

That had been that; relatively harmless and uncomplicated. But then Hungary appeared on the other side of his campsite and unwittingly stepped on one of the mines. It was a miracle she was still alive. "Ita-cha-EEK!" What had happened after that was the only reason England was allowed to go through his beers. The only reason.

"Oy, Germany!" England got up on his feet and swaggered towards Germany with a dangerous tilt to his posture, as if he would give in and fall over at any given second. The other nation didn't move as the British clapped a hand on his shoulder and held up an empty beer bottle in front of his face. "Do you have any more of-?"

"Like I said," Germany cut across England and deprived the latter of a shoulder to lean on as he shook off the others' hand with almost no ceremony. "Just go to sleep."

"But-"

"Just. Go. To. Sleep." Germany grabbed the other nation's shoulder and steered him away; to his surprise England didn't object and complied without objection. Maybe he was only belligerent towards America, Germany reflected as he watched the other country clumsily work himself into one of his spare sleeping bags. England's usual bed-hair crumpled as his head hit the pillow with a thud and left Germany to consider exactly how messy the campsite had gotten since the morning. He stood up, stretched and allowed himself to blink several times up at the dark-tinged sky. It was already evening; _twenty-five days before all this ended, _he thought.

Hungary blinked dusty tears from her eyes as she sat up in her sleeping bag the next morning, fully refreshed and otherwise out of place. She glanced down; hadn't she been in her house clothes just yesterday? The mild green gown, the apron and the kerchief wrapped snugly around her honey-brown hair; she couldn't find them no matter how much she looked around. But the military uniform fit properly on her small frame and another thought went through her head as she considered her arms curiously. _Who had changed me out?_

More importantly, _where was she? _The tent smelled strongly of strong beer and gunpowder. When she put her hand in one of the boxes that lay around on the small area of ground, she found her fingers wrapped around a magazine of a rather questionable nature-and she immediately knew who it had to be.

"Germany!" She stepped out of the tent and shielded her face with her right hand as a particularly bright flare of sunlight shone directly into her face. Annoyance came on her rapidly, like ants scattering when water flitted onto them, as she blinked into the clearing and tried to see who was around. She was right; Germany was lying on the ground with a scowl etched onto his sleeping expression as she tip-toed away from him and towards Italy, who was still tied up-and snored with all the enthusiasm only an Italian could muster. She grabbed his shoulders and shook him gently. "Italia-chan!"

"Vehvehvehvehvehveh...veh?"

Behind her England shifted uneasily in his own bag and muttered something about 'of course I'm not alright, you bleeding crumb' and she almost did a double-take. But Italia-chan was already awake and from what she saw of his expression, he was ready to be as noisy as...an Italian. She quickly clapped a hand to his mouth and shook her head. "Ssshhh. I'm going to set you free, okay?"

"Veeeh~ Hungary-nee-chan!" Maybe he wouldn't have looked as happy if she wasn't digging into the ropes with one of Germany's daggers, but she was gratified all the same. It only took a few more swipes before the ropes gave way and Italy stood up and stretched-and forgot all about her warning. "Alright! I'm free!"

"Italia!" Germany was up on his feet in a moment; Hungary had known that this would happen, she knew he was a light sleeper. She rubbed her hair in exasperation and left a few strands of hair out of place when she removed her hand. Why was Italia-chan always such a loud-mouth? "Hungary! What do you think you're doing?"

"Is it wrong to want someone to not hurt from being tied down all day?" She demanded with her hands on her hips, with her typical 'older-sister' glare on her face. "Italia-chan, you wouldn't run away, would you?" Italy opened his eyes wide as she turned around and fixed him in place with her emerald stare. "You'll stay, right?"

"Veeeeh~ of course, if Nee-chan says so!" Italy nodded at her before his face relapsed back into its usual cat-like languor and she smirked at Germany as if to say 'I'm awesome'.

"See?

Germany shook his head and shrugged as if to say 'do whatever you like' before he knelt and poked England's back with a random branch he had picked up out of nowhere-it was then that Hungary realized something. Everyone here-was male. Her face went red as she stomped over to Germany and snatched away the branch from his hand. "Germany, why the hell were my clothes changed, and which one of you did it?"

Germany flushed a scarlet to match her own but before he could do any more than open his mouth, England rolled over to face them and muttered to himself dreamily. "Why the hell...have to change _her _clothes?"

She could deal with the incident at the world meeting; she could deal with the bad stuff he had poured down his throat and even his creepy obsession with things that didn't exist, but there was one thing she couldn't deal with-and that was a situation like _this_. Her entire body bristled in embarrassment as she walked over to him and with boots she had borrowed from another one of Germany's boxes, aimed a swift kick to his ribs.

"AARGH!"

"Why on earth would you need to change my clothes, damnit?" She yelled, her hands clenched. "You are so-"

"Veeeeeh~ Nee-chan, your dress was already done for~" Italy saved the other two nations the explanation as he appeared behind the group and danced around the spot in his typically airheaded way. "When you stepped on the mine it sort of tore up, veeeeh~"

"It _tore up_? Wait, I stepped on a _mine_?" Hungary blinked in disbelief as she guffawed at the other nations. When the entire group nodded in unison, she rubbed the top of her head and felt even more embarrassed for her reaction. England had clearly gotten the short end of the stick when he decided to save her with his horrible food. (It had to be the food. No way could it be his silly incantations.) She turned around and stared at his form, which was still doubled over from the pain. "Er, well, sorry for that..." She scratched her chin as she looked down at him and suddenly wanted to shear off his eyebrows-they irritated her. "...but you still deserved it, you know."

"Actually, thanks," he muttered with a wince. "If you hadn't done that I'd probably still be feeling guilty now so...thanks."

She didn't know what to say to that so she sighed in response and turned away to face the others. "So...remind me what we have for breakfast?"

It turned out to be stale wurst-which everyone but Italy chewed at with much noise and enthusiasm. The brunette, gourmet as he was, couldn't bear to even put it in his mouth, let alone choke it down and nobody felt compelled to torture him into it; nobody but Germany, that was. Hungary watched with some amusement as the blonde grabbed the other and attempted to shove a few pieces into his mouth. Whatever Germany might say, he did care about Italy-Hungary _knew _it. She did have a girl's intuition after all!

In fact her eyes sparkled so much with the thought of Germany and Italy together, England, who was seated not far away from her, gave her a look that had 'repressed laughter' written all over it. "So...you're into that sort of thing, huh?" She threw him a curious look with her face still all shine-and-sparkle and he looked away with a wry expression. "It's nothing. Never mind."

"So..." Germany gave up on Italy after a while and turned towards the other two, a scowl still prominent on his face. "About this game-did you run into anyone else?" Hungary glanced over at England on impulse but he didn't look at her. Her eyes dropped back to her own portion of sausage, unable to meet Germany's stare. He glanced from her to England. "What?"

"It's nothing," England flatly stated and got up. Hungary saw that he still held his chest. Just as he was about to walk off, the other country stood up to face him. England paused before he could turn away and Hungary looked up. It was an unreadable expression that she saw on his face. "Is there anything else you wanted to know?"

"...it's about Prussia." Germany's eyes flickered between her and England half-suspicion and half...sadness? Hungary stood up as well and left Italy the only one still on the ground. From what she could see of the situation, things were getting sticky and fast. Germany fixed his stare on her. "Something's happened to him, hasn't it?"

"How'd you know?" It was out of her mouth before she could stop herself-England sent a glare towards her. The damage was done however; Germany was so quiet she could hear birds chirp from farther away than she should've been able to. It was a dangerous silence and probably would have continued if Italy hadn't bit into one of the sausages that the others had left behind, apparently driven into it by hunger.

"Veeeeeh~! This doesn't taste so bad after all, veh~!"

"Quiet, Italia!" Germany snapped and looked back at them, a cold look in his eyes. He scanned Hungary from tip-to-toe and for a moment she had the impression that she was being analyzed. She gulped nervously; she didn't want him to get the wrong impression. "Which one of you did it?"

"You idiot," England shot back. "Just because we _know _doesn't mean...well..." He looked helplessly at Hungary and she realized that she hadn't told him who it had been. He had known it wasn't her though-that much she could see. Maybe there was more in that head of his than she thought. "Hungary was there, I think."

"I tried to save him," the words tumbled out before she could stop herself. "I tried to save him, but it was too much for him and I couldn't stop the bleeding...I could only..." her voice, which had dropped down to a whisper, paused mid-sentence as she recalled the vivid scene. The soil stained with dark red, heavy and wet as she clawed at it with her fingers; the moon right above her head. The stars shone down on her, fierce and cruel. _They'd never forgive me. _The smell of iron that wanted to escape and flames that wanted to die. It was past midnight back then-and what had been unnoticeable then had become too vivid for her now. She had been numb. "I'm sorry," she whispered and looked away. "I tried."

"So he is...really...gone." There was something in his voice she couldn't place. "I suppose this wasn't just an innocent game after all...I guess that was too much to hope, wasn't it?" He glanced down at Italy, who appeared to not have gotten any of that at all and then back at them with pursed lips. "I don't think we can go on together like this."

"I was expecting that," England grinned humorlessly. "You're going to get serious, aren't you?"

Hungary glanced from one country to the other, not sure what to think or do. Italy chewed through the rest of the food as Germany and England stared each other; a tense moment. German was the first to make a move. "Hmph. I'll let the two of you go for now and pretend nothing happened." He nodded at Italy, who had drifted off into sleep in the few brief moments it had taken Germany to speak up. "I'll take care of him."

Hungary didn't have the energy to squeal at this protectiveness; she barely had energy to make sense of anything any more right now. "What about me?" she whispered. "England has his own agenda, and you want to get serious. What's going to happen to me?" She looked up with tears in her eyes. "Austria has...he has...I don't have a lot to fight for right now. My glory?" She shook her head and chuckled as she swiped at her tears. "I've lost that ages ago. You might as well start with me, Germany."

"Start..."

The German stared, unable to form words for his thoughts as usual-but England was the one to intervene. He dropped the act of being injured and grabbed her soundly around the shoulders and shook her. "What are you, an idiot?" he demanded. "I had to spend magical power to save your arse-"

"Magic doesn't exist-!"

"So there's no way in bloody hell that you're going to go and offer yourself as some sort of..._sacrifice _while I'm around!" He glowered. "Show some appreciation, you bleeding old hag!"

"Why'd you save me anyway?" she howled and completely ignored for the moment the fact that he had just called her a hag. "Why? Did you feel pity for me, perhaps? I don't need your sympathy, eyebrow-brain!" She ripped herself away from his grasp and went on. "Eyebrow-brain! I bet you don't even have a brain in there at all! It's all EYEBROWS."

His left eye twitched as he bristled from tip-to-toe. "What...was...that...?" He stepped towards her almost threateningly before he backed up and held his ground. His hands clenched as he quivered in irritation. "I don't need someone with a face like yours commenting on my eyebrows, thank you very much..."

"My face? MY FACE? What's wrong with my face, you-"

"You don't look anything _close _to what a proper lady should-"

"Are you SUGGESTING-?"

"SHUT THE HELL UP!" Germany finally roared and placed himself just as England was about to shoot his mouth off again. "That's enough! This is MY CAMP, and MY rules apply. Take your spat elsewhere!" He pushed them aside and glared from one to the other as if he dared them to say one more word. Hungary's head reeled for one moment; this was too familiar for her, brushed too close against her memories. _A bloodstained hand, nails soaked in dirt. Prussia with his hand on her shoulder, obnoxious laughter that rang in her ears. "I am AWESOME!" Piano music cut off by the sound of electric guitar-Austria yelling at Prussia to stop the racket, "o-baka-san!". Germany always stepped in._

_He always stepped in._

"Hungary? Hungary!" Germany's face was pale with concern as he shook her but her own expression was blank; she refused to make a sound. "Oy! Are you alright? Say something!"

"I guess it finally hit her." England sighed, his expression sullen and wry at the same time. "She's been taking it out on me because I was the easiest target...probably." His mouth twisted into a self-deprecatory smile. "I guess it all depends on her now-whether she's going to get better or worse."

Germany grit his teeth together with resolve, determined to shake the unresponsive girl out of her stupor. "Hungary! Hungary!"

"Stop it, you'll just make it worse," England said in that snide voice of his and turned away from the others. He stretched and looked up at the sky with a gloomy look on his face. "Then? What are you going to do next?"

"What does it look like? I'm going to take Italia and leave." Germany laid Hungary down somewhere safe and glanced back at the Englishman standing in the middle of the clearing. A shadow passed over his face as he looked at the shorter nation. He stood up. "I had a question for you."

"What is it?"

"Why did you save her?"

England spared him a small glance. "How did you know Prussia was dead?"

"I think we both know how." Germany stared at his former nemesis-no. England was still his enemy now. Technically Italia was his enemy too, but he didn't feel like killing the poor country. That look...wasn't the only reason, even though he kept telling himself it was. "Who did you lose?"

England chortled. "Is it really that obvious?"

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Okay, okay. So I took more time than I did with the last chapter, but after the disappointment that was the last chapter, I just needed some more time to figure out what England and the others would really act like. (Yay mini-dramas! Love 'em. Especially the ones that feature America in them, too. Go and listen to the one where they both freak out over a ghost. XD Fun times, fun.) Hungary seems to be having a delayed shock reaction from Prussia's death—I wonder how this is going to pan out? It looks like Iggy's stuck with her for a while longer yet. Also, the answer to England's question shall be found out next chapter! -**cryptic hint**- Read and review, as usual; they are much appreciated.

Now then, don't mind me while I go and run my own stories through a grinder...


	4. Japan and China

**Disclaimer: Hetalia and its characters don't belong to me, they belong to Hidekaz Himaruya. There, happy?**

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**Chapter Four: ~Nihon to Chugoku-san~**

**There was a calm look in his eyes as he put his foot down on China's chest and pressed down. **It made her shiver to the core; it was the lavish look of someone who simply didn't care anymore, the look of someone who was done playing around. His katana was lost, somewhere in the rubble of what had been Chinatown, but China still had his wok. The older nation couldn't stand up however; he couldn't even wiggle a finger in his position. He groaned weakly as Japan dug his heels into China's chest even more. "Ki...ku..."

Hungary closed her eyes and cradled England's red-matted head in her arms. A noise of weak protest rose from his half-lucid form as he attempted to get out of her arms and reach out towards the brothers, but he simply fell back against her lap as she held him down and pressed his wound firmly with a stained piece of clothing. _I'm not going to let this happen again, _she thought as a gurgle came out from China's throat; she looked up and saw Japan's fingers wrapped firmly around the other's throat. _I'm not going to let you say goodbye to me._

_Even if it means China has to die._

A leaf brushed against her cheek as her eyes fluttered open to thick eyebrows drawn down in concern. The eyebrows moved back after a few seconds and let her gather her bearings; the face they belonged to slowly came back into focus. A pale face that looked tired. Dark rings around green eyes, thin lips pulled down permanently into an unhappy line. She blinked a few times before the rest of the world came back into view-the dark night sky, a campfire that blazed insistently in the background and illuminated what refused to be seen. She ran a hand over her eyes and rubbed as England dithered for a moment before he drew away.

He didn't want to be close to her, she realized that a while ago. Even if they had gotten together into a lot of problems, he wasn't interested in _her_ specifically, just the little matter of her continued survival. She had noticed how distant he was towards her; except for the few times he had lost his temper towards her, he barely regarded her as a companion. Just someone who was there. Someone he had to look after. But _why? _

The scones he had roasted in the campfire were somewhat burned. He threw her a slightly apologetic look as he handed her the plate and then distanced himself from her presence once again as he buried himself into his novel once again. Hungary was tempted to grab it out of his hands and throw it into the fire, but she didn't have the energy to. _"We...haven't...really spent a lot...of time together, have we?" _Before she knew it, a tear dripped onto her cheek, followed by another tear, and another-a shower of tears.

England hadn't noticed at first, but he looked up after a while. "O-oy. Are you crying?" He moved closer to her and pulled out a handkerchief. _A.K., _the initials read. "C-come on, say something?" He pressed the handkerchief into her palm; he felt warm. She looked down at it, back up at him, and then down at it again, before she ran a thumb over the embroidery. A hand rested on her shoulder and before she knew it, her empty hand went up and placed itself over his own. He quickly pulled away, as if burned. "O-oy! What was that just now?"

"Nothing." Her breaths had quickened even though she hadn't realized it. What had happened just then? It was a strange feeling that felt familiar at the same time. She touched her shoulder where his hand had been and shook her head to herself. "It wasn't anything. Nothing happened."

"That sounds suspiciously like a denial," he echoed her own thoughts with a red-faced murmur. The campfire crackled as a branch finally collapsed into ashes and for a moment he looked distracted. She peered down at the handkerchief he had handed her again; she hadn't seen wrong. A.K. stitched elegantly with bright red thread. She stared down at it for a moment, then closed her eyes against the world.

_"Gilbert Beilschmidt at your service!" He saluted before unsheathing his sword and waving it around wildly; a child Teutonic Knight that looked and acted less fearsome than he really was. She had been wrong to underestimate him, at any rate. "What's your name?" However, she hadn't underestimated his stupidity._

**THWAP.**

_"OWWW! What was that for, you girly weirdo?" Prussia whined as he rubbed the place where she'd hit him. "How dare you hit the awesome me?"_

_"Your name is Prussia, also known as the Teutonic Knights. NOT Gilbert Beilschmidt. At least do the decency of not handing it out to everyone you meet!" she snapped, pinching the bridge of her nose with pure irritation. "Your human name does not matter to me."_

_"...sooo..." He blinked at her. Apparently, nothing of what she had just said had sunk into his deficient brain. "Okay. So you're just lame and boring old Hungary?" _**CLONK CLONK!**_ "Owwwwww..I was only asking...you stupid weirdo...that hurts...owwww..."_

_"Fine!" She sighed, her hand at her forehead again. "Since you told me yours, I might as well return the favour." She held out her hand to him and he nervously took it. "The name's...Elizaveta...Héderváry."_

_"That sounds complicated to say and isn't that a girl's name...ow! Ow ow!" He yelped as her fist landed squarely on his head several times again. She glared, red in the face. As if she needed to be reminded of the girly name that had been settled on for her! She wasn't a girl. She wasn't. She really wasn't._

Except she knew she was now. She was a girl who couldn't sort out her own feelings anymore. She was a girl that picked up after Austria and then was thrown away-thrown away, after all she had done for him! _The nerve of that spoiled._..her bottom lip had a wound mark on it, she realized. Red drops that looked like liquified candy drops spilled out; the kind of drops Austria had gotten her last year for their marriage anniversary. He never celebrated their divorce anniversary, as if it had never happened.

She pressed the handkerchief against her mouth; it smelled of rose. A red streak stained the white when she brought it away from her mouth. "Sorry about your handkerchief," she said later when she gave it back to him. He only shook his head and took it without comment. Why did he save her?

_Why? Why? Why?_

"We're leaving this place in the morning." He chewed at a pencil as he laid out a rough sketch of their course through the last few days. "This is the line we've been walking during the last few days through the forest. I think if we kept going north we'd get somewhere-"

"How do you know which way's north?" she interrupted. She knew something was wrong about the way she stared at him. What was happening to her? She put on her best smile and wished he'd smile at her as well. Where'd that thought come from? Wasn't she ready to kill him this morning because he changed her clothes? She didn't know herself anymore. "Hey. Are those your initials on the handkerchief?"

"I have a compass, of course-no decent seaman would ever go without-wait." He blinked at her, apparently just having registered the question before his face broke out in a red tinge. "Aah...you were...looking at them, then..." He fidgeted, the novel still in his hand. She suddenly wanted to tear it out of his grasp and read it for herself. What was so fascinating about that book? "Y-yeah...those are my initials..."

_Drip._It had started there, somewhere around midnight; Hungary had felt the first drop roll onto her cheek and found herself held by the shoulders and shaken awake the next moment. "Hungary! Wake up, it's raining!"

_"Yo, how're you doing?"_

_The pen hovered in the air as a certain white-haired idiot burst in; first her cheeks turned a slight pink at being caught out and then she quickly stuffed away the pages somewhere in a drawer. "Prussia, you idiot! What do you think you're doing in my study?" She glared, the pen still gripped firmly in her hand. "It is off-limits even to Austria-san!"_

_He pouted and looked away. "I was just looking for you, because it's going to rain and all and I thought, well, that you could come and play around like we used to..."  
_  
_"We're not children anymore!"_

"Are you sure it's alright?" she asked for the umpteenth time, huddled in a blanket. Her honey-brown hair swayed in lank bundles around her face as she glanced around England's tent. Instead of boxes, there were small and old cupboards and cabinets, a lamp and even a _bed _and_ a desk. _"I don't want to be intruding."

"...that's not like you," he remarked wryly and sipped from a cup of tea. "Don't you usually sound more like a dog, all bite and no bark?"

_What had happened in the space between morning and evening? _"Maybe...but it's just that..." She shivered as she wrapped the blanket around herself more securely. What was she going to say? "I think something happened to me." She couldn't look at him. "For some reason I think...I have feelings. For you."

The teacup crashed to the floor as the other nation coughed and spluttered. "What on earth did you just-are you even in your right-what in the name of Britannia-? Stupid, stop playing moronic pranks like that-!" He probably would have gone on, had he not noticed the extremely serious look on her face. He stared at her with disbelief written all over his face and edged closer to her nervously. "O...oy. You don't really-you do. You really do mean it." He shook all over with shock and imitated a robot very well as he walked away towards the exit. "I'll just...go outside and have a good soak. Yeah. Excuse me."

He disappeared before she could say anything about the rain and a few moments later, a cluster of expletives marched in through the tent flap. _Very _colourful ones, at that-Prussia would never be caught saying those, no matter how obnoxious he was. _Prussia_. "For the sake of whatever bloody f- God that's up there, why in the bleeding-" She didn't even feel like laughing, even though that would normally have been her first reaction to this. "Hell do I have to deal with this f- up?"

It went on for longer before it suddenly became quiet. The blonde came back into the tent, his clothes and hair all soaked in rainwater. A dark ring had settled under his eyes and he looked anywhere but at her as he fetched a towel from a cupboard. Numb, it felt all numb and she wondered if this was what feelings were supposed to feel like. After a few moments passed, he finally cleared his throat and turned around to face her. "L-look...I'm not someone to love or anything-"

"I said nothing about love!" she snapped back, red herself now. "I just said I might have feelings for you. You didn't have to go and...overreact like that."

"Even so!" He held his hand up and she sighed and nodded at him to go on. He glanced away; she noticed he was still red in the ears, not to mention the cheeks as well. "I just...you know. I just think you've got your feelings all mixed up right now...with everything that's happened." His voice slowly dropped into a mutter. "You don't...really even know me, or anything, so I don't think...maybe you're just messed up right now."

"I'm not-" she started and then paused and smiled to herself. She looked up at him. "You're probably right...I just don't know who to trust anymore."

"I don't...I didn't ask for you to have feelings for me or anything, you know," he went on in his mutter. "I didn't save you because of something as stupid as that..."

"Then why?"

He blinked at her with an expression that said he hadn't considered the question at all, then looked away again. "I had my reasons." He sounded terse, as if he didn't want to talk about the subject anymore and she decided to drop it and looked away towards a small collection of books that sat haphazardly perched on a rocking chair. [i]_A rocking chair.[/i]_Something twitched briefly in her and before she could help it, the words spilled out.

"You have a tent, cupboards and cabinets, novels, a bed, a desk and even a _rocking chair _and I only have a _frying pan _and a _broom_. How is that fair?" She threw the blanket at him at the end of her rant.

_This is the way it should be, really. So why do I feel so...empty?_

"Achoo!"

"That's what you get for going out in the rain, you know!" She waved her frying pan at him mock-threateningly as they trudged through the forest in the morning. She had to hand it to him, he _had _changed out of his clothes last night, but it still didn't excuse his silly behaviour-or her own, for that matter. How could she have _possibly _thought herself in love with this sneezing, slumped-over form of a cold fish? He _was_a cold fish, no matter how she diced it; even Austria was more warm towards her. Fish...the thought of it made her stomach growl. "What about your magic?" she remarked. "I thought someone like you would be able to curse a silly little cold away."

"Yeah, yeah, sure, whatever you say. _Achoo!_" He sniffled and grumbled darkly to himself as they stumbled over a particularly tangled growth of roots. He tugged at his green military uniform as they finally reached the end of the area and found themselves in a _bamboo thicket. _But that was only the beginning of the surprises for Hungary; beyond the thicket a length of wall darkened the area considerably and encircled what seemed to be a large town. From out here she could hear crowds singing along to an East Asian chant, but she knew this wasn't Japan's style. England cleared up the confusion for her soon enough. "China. It's China, and he's built a bloody town in the middle of _nowhere_. _AGAIN._"

She noted with some amusement the undertones of irritation and jealousy in his voice. Good. Now he could feel exactly the way she did when she saw him with his belongings. "Mad?"

"...of course not," he mumbled and turned away. "At any rate, shouldn't we be more worried about _why _exactly we hear more people in there than there should be?"

"You've got a point." She tapped her cheek thoughtfully as she glanced up at the empty air on top of the walls that taunted them. England didn't look too good; he was as red as a beet and still looked as though he'd fall over from the cold at any moment. _Low tolerance for illness, much? _But her curiosity was peaked and if England wasn't here, she'd have gone and done it herself. "Think you can climb the wall?"

"I can do one better!" he sniffled and brought out his novel. That. _Novel. _It wasn't much of a stretch to say that it was starting to irritate her beyond belief. "Lessee, where's that blasted levitation spell..." He sneezed. "Ugh, I hate colds..."

"...you're going to make us fly over the wall." She stared at him with a wry look. "Are you, quite honestly, are you _mad_?"

Before he could retort however, they found themselves distracted by the sound of an explosion from within the town. Hungary barely had warning as the wall started to collapse-England, sick as he was, apparently had better reflexes than her. This she noted with resentment as he pulled her back from a large chunk of cement that landed squarely where she stood just a moment ago. She scowled and tore her arm away from him. "That hurt, you idiot!"

"Save it for later," he said flatly, his eyes not focused on her. She followed his gaze and stared.

"Oh, no." The town lay open to them now and she could see people scatter away all over the place; the gaudy costume of a strange serpent-like creature drifted peacefully to the ground. _This is a festival, and we're not the only ones gatecrashing here, _she thought as she looked at the short man with the white navy suit and the katana in his hands. A familiar face-someone she considered a friend, someone she trusted. "Japan!"

His dark eyes flit towards her in a brief moment of surprise, but he quickly looked back as someone crashed against his katana with a strange frying pan. Not the sort of frying pan she held, but...a wok? "This isn't the first time this has happened." The blonde at her side sounded constrained and Hungary glanced back. She saw what he meant-old injuries on both the countries that faced them. A scratch on the other nation's cheek, a scar on Japan's lip, black eyes and exhaustion in their stances. They were focused wholly on each other. England stepped forwards. "You two...stop this already!"

"England-san, please don't interfere." Japan was as polite as ever, but he didn't turn to look at England-his eyes were intently fixed on the other nation. "I know you mean well, but this is between China-san and myself."

"Those idiots...they don't know what they're doing!" The novel appeared again, but this time the pages turned rapidly by themselves as an ominous green glow came from the book. Hungary guffawed at him in disbelief. _Real magic?_"I've seen enough of this! Britannia Cage! Trap them in-"

But before he could complete whatever spell he was planning to cast, China appeared overhead and _PLONK! _Down came the wok with severe force on her companion's head. She could head something crack; and as he fell back, the top of his head was wet with red.

"NO!"

She flailed out with her own pan as China aimed another for England, with the apparent intention to finish him off, and hit the red-robed nation squarely in the chest. China staggered back and Hungary rushed forwards to grab England before he hit the ground. _This isn't right, this is all wrong, I can't lose him, I can't, I can't, I can't- _"Iggy, you idiot, hang in there!" She quickly riffled through the pockets on his uniform and pulled out his handkerchief. "I'm not going to let you die!"

"Stupid...m'name's not Iggy..." he mumbled incoherently. "I'm the great British Empire, don't you dare forget that-"

"Shut up, just shut up!" she yelled, tears in her eyes. She couldn't have another Prussia happening in front of her. She had to save him, she just had to. Even if he _was _a cold fish, even if she was so messed up right now she mistook him for Austria and thought Prussia was talking to her when he spoke, even if-! She didn't know him, she realized this. He had become Austria and Prussia and everyone else to her, because, just because...and she couldn't sort herself out. But she couldn't let him die. She just couldn't.

China was down; the frying pan had apparently been too much for him. She didn't really know the country but a spot of fury burned in her chest when she looked over him, England's head cradled in her lap. She could kill him right now. She wanted to kill him. Japan, with his back turned to the European countries, seemed hell-bent on killing China and she could see why. That...that! "Stop...don't do this, you gits..." England coughed out. "Don't..."

"I thought I told you-"

"Isn't just...about them..." he twitched in pain as she pressed down firmer on his head. The bleeding had lessened. "If they die...I can't..."

He faded into silence and went limp in her arms; after a moment of panic, she realized he was only unconscious. At the moment, China's time had gone up as well; she looked up as a death rattle came from his throat. Japan stood up gracefully and turned towards them. She breathed in sharply as something else occurred to her-would he kill them as well? "Aah, Hungary-san, England-san. It's good to see you, as always." He bowed impeccably and stood up but made no advance towards them. She couldn't tell what was going through his head, but his eyes were full of intent. _What is he going to do to us?_

As it appeared, the sword wasn't the only weapon he had in his possession. He brought out something that looked suspiciously like a ceremonial knife from his sleeve and unsheathed it. Her hand twisted uncomfortably tight around the pan's handle. Would she be forced to fight Japan? But he only smiled and she watched with horror as he drove the knife through white and stained it with the deep red of his flag's rising sun.

He had stabbed himself in the stomach.

"JAPAN!"

* * *

Okay, late is late. I admit it. xD I've been stressed out lately, so I didn't really have much time to write anything. I'm probably going to start making my chapters shorter from now on; I have a lot of studies to go through and this doesn't really help the stress much. ;D And I know I promised an answer to certain questions in the last chapter, but you guys'll have to wait for those a while yet. Like I said, this is first draft, and I don't really have much control over where the story is going at the moment. ;D

For the record, I don't really ship Hungary x England, so if there IS any romance between the two, it's not because I'm pushing them that way. ;D At this point, however, Hungary isn't really in love with England. She's messed up, so basically this might go either way, depending on your reviews. ;) Oh yeah, last reminder: **read and review! **I always seem to forget that for some reason…

Aaaand, I'm done. xD


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